Gifts to soldiers in the WW1 trenches, from the royal family

Princess Mary  (1897–1965), Princess Royal and later Countess of Harewood, was the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, and granddaughter of King Edward VII.

The Sailors and Soldiers Christmas Fund was inaugurated by 17 year old Princess Mary in October 1914 to pro­vide a gift to every service­man, soon after the Great War broke out. The idea was the initiative of Princess Mary herself, so she organised a public appeal which raised the funds to ensure that every sailor afloat and every sold­ier at the front received a Christ­­mas present. Due to the strong pub­lic support for the gift, which saw £163,000 raised, the eligib­ility for the gift was widened to include every person wearing the King's uniform on Christmas Day 1914.

The majority of gifts were for smok­ers and comprised an ornate embos­sed brass box containing tob­acco, cigarettes, a pipe and lighter, Christmas card and a photograph of Prin­cess Mary. For non-smokers writing paper and a silvered pencil were provided. For Indian troops sweets and spices were given instead of, or as well as cigarettes. 

Soldier receiving his gift from Princess Mary
Photo credit: Daily Mail

After Christmas 1914 a surplus of funds enabled the scheme to be extended. A simpler gift was given out to all other servicemen, con­sisting of a pencil in a cartridge case, cigarettes, tobacco and New Year card. In total 426,000 of these tins were eventually distributed to members of the British, Colonial and Indian Armed Forces in late 1914 or early 1915. And as the number of grieving parents, widows and orphans went up. it was decided that widows and bereaved parents should also be included as legitimate recipients.

I imagine the lads, lonely scared and away from home for the first time, found great comfort from the small luxury goods. I also think receiving a thank you photo of a young, lovely princess would have meant more to the soldiers than a photo of an elderly, grumpy looking king.

In total, there were some 2.6 million service people in the British, Colonial and Indian forces, and 2.5 million gift boxes were event­ually made. But not all gifts reached their intended recipients as soon as they hoped. Perhaps this was because the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania was sunk in May 1915, losing large quantities of brass.

The Museum of Victoria’s Princess Mary box was made of brass (37 mm in height and 125 mm wide) with a hinged lid. The lid had embossed decoration: in the centre Princess Mary's head was in profile, surrounded by a wreath and the letter M twice. In each corner of the lid was the name of a British ally; the top horizontal edge of the lid was decorated with a bayonet and scabbard; along bottom edge a plaque bearing Christmas 1914 with the bow of a Dreadnought each side; each vertical edge was adorned with three crossed flags with a disc in front bearing France and Russia.

Brass box. The two packages (tobacco and cigarettes) fitted into the tin with just enough room for the pencil in between.
photo credit: Imperial War Museum 

The card read “With best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a vict­or­ious New Year, from the Princess Mary and friends at home”. When the card had been read and the cigarettes consumed, servicemen in the front lines could then used the tins to carry other small items that were precious to them.

Throughout the 4.5 years of the Great War, young Princess Mary visited hospitals and welfare organisations with her mother, assist­ing with projects to give comfort to British servicemen and help to their families. Her public duties reflected her particular concerns i.e nursing, the Girl Guide movement and the Land Girls. She married in 1922.

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I imagine that by October 1914, the British Empire armies still thought the war would be over by Christmas. But losses quickly mounted; more than 10,000 were killed, missing or wounded within a month of war breaking out. When Christmas 1914 came and went, thoughts turned towards winter in the trenches. A roaring trade soon developed in gifts for men at the Front, ranging from Fortnum’s hampers (from one to five guineas) and six-shilling silver lighters, a practical present for active service, to simple handkerchiefs, socks and food parcels.